Tootsie director and Will & Grace actor Sydney Pollack died at his home yesterday, at age 73, after a battle with cancer. He leaves this earth with critical acclaim, legions of fans, and this explanation about why you should not use zoom on DVDs to get out of the horizontal black stripes.
So we've got social networking sites for tweens, professionals, college grads, Starbucks drinkers, and dog lovers. Why not the dead? CONTINUED »
SAD FACE Star editorial director Bonnie Fuller has already had her share of family trouble, from her oldest daughter undergoing surgery to remove a brain tumor at age two, to her younger daughter being diagnosed with leukemia at age five. And now more personal tragedy: We hear her mother Tanya, who has been battling cancer for years, just passed. The funeral is tomorrow.
Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the D.C. madame, committed suicide in a shed near her mother's home in Florida, leaving behind only a suicide note. [AP]
DEATH SENTENCE Elaine's proprietor Elaine Kaufman is not dead, despite the mixed message New York Post editor Col Allan received. [NYM]
Blogging this week on MarthaStewart.com, Martha Stewart-dot-commiserate wrote about the passing of Kublai Khan Paw Paw Chow Chow Chow, her big brown fluffy dog, who died at the age of 13. Except if you've been paying attention, this isn't the only sad dog story of late. Last fall, Ellen DeGeneres devoted an inordinate amount of time to Iggy, an adopted pooch she gave away only to see repossessed by the rescue agency. And then last month, Oprah announced the death her cocker spaniel, Sophie, also 13.
Does Martha's sad dog tale complete the three's-a-trend cycle, or does Ellen's sob story not actually count, because her pup didn't pass? And what does that mean for the animals of Dr. Phil and Tyra Banks?!?!
Perhaps the most distasteful joke about Tucker Carlson (at last) losing his MSNBC show: That he killed himself over it. Fake news site Unconfirmed Sources has the "story," with Heath Ledger's death scenario mixed in: "Tucker Carlson was found dead Tuesday of a possible drug overdose in a Lower Manhattan apartment, the New York Police Department said. [...] Carlson was found naked and unresponsive, facedown on the floor at the foot of his bed by a housekeeper trying to wake him for an appointment with a masseuse, said police spokesman Paul Browne, 'Pills were found in the vicinity of the bed,' he told UCS News. 'This is being looked at as a possible overdose, but that is not confirmed yet.'"
• On Friday, the founding editor of People magazine, Richard Durrell, died at his Fairfield home at the age of 82.
• People magazine's best-selling issue in 2007 – aside from its "Sexiest Man Alive" edition – was Owen Wilson's suicide attempt cover.
• In Touch's worst-selling issue of the year was its hard news edition of the Virginia Tech massacre.
Today, for three or four hours, Heidi Montag will warrant your sympathy. For once. [TMZ]
Well, if it wasn't the shark, something else was bound to get Roy Scheider. The actor died this weekend due to complications from a staph infection. [NYT]
Who better than the Associated Press – which has already prepared a death notice for Britney Spears – to lead the discussion on pre-written obituaries for young people?
The wire's John Rogers is on the case, quoting, ahem, the AP's sports managing editor Lou Ferrara, who says Anna Nicole Smith's death was a "wake-up call" for media to prepare reports for wild high-profile types, no matter how young.
The AP did not have a pre-written obituary for Smith. They have roughly 1,000 prepared, though few are for people younger than 70.
Famed Washington Post obit scribe Adam Bernstein says he doesn't believe his paper carries any obit for someone younger than 30. (Spears is 26.) The Los Angeles Times's obit editor, Jon Thurber, says they have about 400 prepared; Spears isn't among them.
So what's the ethical boundary for preparing a celebrity's obituary, even if they're too young to run for Senate? Likely, a paper's motivation to be first – and accurate – will outweigh the sicko test. As it should.
Heath Ledger was found dead in his SoHo apartment this afternoon surrounded by sleeping pills. He was 28.
He was found naked in Mary-Kate Olsen's apartment. A commenter at Gothamist says the apartment was listed at $23,000 a month.
First Brad Renfro, now Heath Ledger. Will the AP be ready for the next under-thirty actor death?
[Photos]
"Actor Allan Melvin, best known for his role as Sam the Butcher on “The Brady Bunch,” died of cancer on Thursday at his home in Brentwood, Calif. … He was 84" - PageSix.com
KEEP SEARCHING Chess champion and crazy Bobby Fischer has died. He was 64. Max Pomeranc, the kid who played the chess prodigy hoping to be the next Bobby Fischer minus the emotional instability, hasn't made a movie since Fluke, in 1995. It's been a rough week for child stars. [AP]
… which newspapers have already prepared obituaries for Britney Spears.
UPDATE: Asked and answered: The Associated Press has prepped one.
Brad Renfro, child star from The Client, has died.
The actor was found dead at his home yesterday morning. The cause of his death is unknown, though he did seem to enjoy drugs and alcohol in his later years.
He was 25.
MAN DOWN Former Conde Nast chief Steve Florio died yesterday from complications following a heart attack over Thanksgiving. He was 58. [MW]
Although we can’t always shake the nasty habit of writing in the royal we, occasionally one of our editors decides to shake off the cloak of anonymity to write a short, pithy statement long, rambling diatribe about a topic of their choice. Today, Debbie Newman is that editor.
Approximately two months into my tenure at Jossip, Anna Nicole Smith died. And the media reaction was immediate. The cruel jokes and sarcastic headlines started even before the official coroner's report was released, conceivably before the family had been contacted and before funeral arrangements had been made. Supposedly reputable press outlets salivated over the chance to publicly decry this woman – a gold digger but also a mother – only moments after learning that her death was either the result of an accidental drug overdose or suicide attempt.
Appalled by the immediate onslaught of insensitive headlines and the speed with which she was desecrated by the press, I found myself in the unlikely position of defending Smith.
We don’t get the New York Review of Books; three is our limit on magazines with New York in the title. But we do know that people sound smart quoting it. We also know that one of the co-founders of the magazine, Elizabeth Hardwick, died this weekend.
Like with every obituary in the Times, her death comes with a mini-history lesson. For those who forgot, the New York Review of Books was founded because of a newspaper strike:
It was the spring of 1963, during the 114-day newspaper strike, which had begun late the previous year. Mr. Epstein proposed that in the absence of The New York Times Book Review on Sundays, the time was perfect to introduce a new book review. The guests concurred. The next day, Mr. Lowell went to Mr. Epstein’s bank and took out a $4,000 loan, secured by his own trust fund. He then began to cajole his moneyed friends, including Blair Clark, the television news executive, to invest in the project. Shortly afterward, the first issue was dummied out on the Lowells’ dining-room table.
Don't feel intimated by the legacy of that strike. The stuff coming out in reaction to this strike will be just as enduring as the New York Review of Book, at least in the sense that YouTube clips don’t get taken down.
Editorial Director
